Sport

Hotshots win snooker title

HOTSHOTS snooker club made no mistake to win their first Premier Division championships.

They beat Pockets SC B 4-1 to remain undefeated on their own tables at their Langley base. Despite making a break of 41, Neil Beckley had to work hard to overcome the challenge of Paul Crisp on the pink, while Dave Green had to pot a difficult pink to thwart the efforts of Dave Timmington, whose 36 break had left him trailing after a good start. Roy Stokes and Rob Howen also won but Milan Krstanovic lost a re-spotted black to Danny Rees.

West Midlands Police beat Netherton Sports and Social 4-1 at home to make sure of the runners-up berth.

Moor Pool and Snooker A had to better Netherton’s result to be certain of avoiding relegation and just did enough to see off the challenge of the bottom team, last season’s First Division champions, Kingswinford RBL A.

Pockets A’s Andy Smith gave his team a good start with a 58 break at home against Amblecote Institute A, but the visitors hit back to win 3-2 with Andy Round knocking in an 89, the second best break of the season, beaten by his own 103 registered seven weeks before.

Stourbridge Institute B had made certain of the First Division championship the week before, and they finished on a high note with a 4-1 win away to Amblecote RBL A.

Kinver Constitutional A just needed to win to be sure of the runners-up spot, but that task proved just beyond them in a very competitive match away to Stourbridge Institute A. Arnie Tromans gave Kinver a fine start, but Richard Rudge, with a 32 break, Paul Bates and Paul Garbett put the hosts 3-1 ahead before Mitchell Hines salvaged what proved to be a valuable frame for Kinver, who had to settle for a share of the spoils when Amblecote Institute B beat Baggeridge Social 4-1 to tie for second.

Three defeats in a row had caused Amblecote to lose momentum, but Adam Coley, Cary Homer and Mick Cook put them 3-1 ahead, despite a win for Frankie Bennett, before Matt Johnson pipped Matt Whale on the final black to enable his team to level with Kinver.

Indeed it would have been a three-way tie if Moor Pool and Snooker C had won 5-0 and not 4-1. They did well to win some closely-fought frames at home to Kingswinford SC, however, with Ben Wakeman continuing his fine form in his first season, and John Cowan earning a point for the visitors.

Stuart Taylor, John Wooldridge and Dave Flavell lifted Wombourne to a 3-2 win at home to Kinver’s C team although the current challenge-cup holders ended the season in one of the relegation places.

Cup semi-finalists, Kinver Const B ended their league campaign with a 3-2 win at home to Kingswinford Cons A.

Second Division champions, Norton Social B, lost the first three frames at Amblecote Inst D before Pete Cairns and Luke Grosvenor hit back for Norton.

Dibdale Snooker Club had completed their programme and had to wait to see if one of two teams could catch them for second place. Stourbridge Inst had to win 5-0 at the Old Edwardian Club, but lost the first frame when Nick Aston was defeated by Chris Cowley.

A 4-1 win would have been enough for Amblecote RBL B to tie with Dibdale but Steve, Martin and Jack Ball could only force a 3-2 win away to Amblecote Inst E for whom the brother & sister pairing of Steven and Louise Taylor secured a frame apiece.